Petals
by Time Signature
Summary: One-shot about friends and gratitude. Dedicated to, of course, my friends. My friends, who helped me realize something important. Based on a true (and recent) story.


Petals

A/N: This is dedicated to my friends. My friends, who are so important to me. My friends, who are my second family. I will not name them, but I'm sure that you know who you are, because you are my friends.

This is our tale from my eyes, as it would be in the Pokemon world.

~oOo~

The girl aimlessly sat down in a patch of grass, looking to the left of her and noting in the back of her mind that the flowers were so different from the ones she was used to in Unova. But that thought disappeared after a moment, melting into the grayness around her. Inside her. The world seemed so gray, so dark, so colorless. Not the beautiful sort of not having color (like Zekrom and Reshiram), but an impeding sort.

Remembering to count the treasures she still held, she clasped her partners to her chest, the small balls clinking together as her Pokemon moved inside to watch her worriedly. The girl smiled at them, trying to assure them – no, she whispered, to assure herself – that she was fine.

Her head tilted downward, and her long black hair fell before her face, hiding the tears that she shed. And still she smiled, knowing it was futile to try to convince herself that she actually _was_ fine.

The broken girl managed to place her Poke-balls back into her bag, albeit with trembling fingers, and then flopped onto the field. Someone had told her once that tears would not spill if she looked up, and that was what she decided to do. But they still blurred her vision of the blue? gray? sky that Sinnoh boasted. Before this, she would always be in awe at the Sinnoh sky that was so clear, so blue, not like the sky in her home region, which always had this slight grayish tint to it – probably the fog, or something. But not today. The sky looked so gray.

Everything looked so gray, ever since _that_ had happened.

Why had it happened? _Why_?

She pictured herself, on that day, when they had fought. She had been so foolish, so hot-headed, and had run away from them. _Why_?

She knew, somewhere, that she had been scared.

She closed her dark, dark eyes, and the shimmer that had covered them slipped out from the corners of them and slid down her cheek.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was so tired, or that she was so emotional, or simply that she was sleepy, but she soon fell into a deep slumber.

The girl saw herself laughing. The girl heard others laughing. She couldn't see their faces very well, but she knew that those voices were her friends' voices. The girl looked up, and the sky that she longed for – the sky that was slightly tinted with gray – stretched over them. And right as she reached out her arm,

she woke up.

And the Sinnoh sky was a clear blue again.

The girl stood up and dusted herself off, the small grasses fluttering to the ground. She grabbed her bag, planning to send out her Volcarona to Fly back home, but she stopped. She had noticed a twinkling in the distance, and curiously walked in the general direction of it. She swiveled her head curiously as her surroundings changed from fields, to forests, to seashores…she had never seen a route so diverse. Route…224, she thought, imagining the Sinnoh map and locating the route east of Victory Road.

Finally, the girl reached the end of the route, and found the cause of the sparkling – a white, large stone that seemed like a mirror. She looked into it, and with her reflection she saw an inscription.

The other words were indistinct, but she managed to read, "…to whom I give my thanks…"

She smiled, this time a true one, and placed a finger upon the rock before the legible portion. Then she traced two words, _my friends_.

The instant she finished the curve of the _s_, the ocean before her started moving, breaking apart, to reveal a path blooming with flowers. The girl stared, mouth open a little in awe, at the long, long trail that seemed to extend forever. At the end, though, she glimpsed a small dot.

It beckoned to her, maybe subconsciously, but she found herself running, running, forward on that path. The faint scent of salt mixed with the sweet scent of the flowers beneath her feet, as the wind picked some petals up from the ground and tossed them into her swaying hair.

The speck in the distance became larger, until it showed what it truly was. Once before the island, the girl breathed in deeply to calm herself from the run, and smelled…

_Happiness_.

Yes, that was it. And as the girl thought of what her happiness was – being with her friends – a small green-and-white animal scampered toward her.

The girl scooped Shaymin into her arms, and whispered,

"_Thank you._"

And then the flowers around them gathered into a whirlwind, and it spun around her, around her, around her, and…

She found her friends looking at her anxiously and asking questions, sometimes apologizing at her, some telling her that she wasn't the cause for it, but – all of them said that _she was their friend_.

She blinked a few times, and then, her lips quirking up, she murmured, "Thank you."

To whom, she did not know. Shaymin, or her friends? But then she realized that the words were dedicated to both.

The girl looked up to that slightly grayish-blue sky, and found a single Gracidea petal come riding on the wind –

and onto her outstretched palm.

~oOo~

Author's note: This is one fanfic that I will treasure. It's a little different from what actually happened, but…I hope I got the message across.

Inspired by the Touhou song "Plan Doll," and of course, _my friends_. I will never, ever, let that treasure go.

And I hope that all of you reading this have someone that you can call a true friend, too.

Time Signature


End file.
